Expo East Attendance Tops 19,000

Expo East Attendance Tops 19,000

WASHINGTON--The 18th annual Natural Products ExpoEast was held here Oct. 3 to 6, offering industry members a field of 1,573exhibits from 21 countries. According to the show organizer, New Hope NaturalMedia, total attendance was 19,842, a 17-percent rebound from the 2001convention held a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and a 3-percentincrease from the 2000 event in Baltimore.

"The strong turnout underscored the growth experienced bythe natural products industry in the past year," said Fred Linder,president of New Hope, a division of Penton Media Inc. (www.penton.com)."National awareness of the importance of healthy living and preventivemedicine has increased, in part because baby boomers are reaching retirementage--and media attention has fueled sales in many areas."

For the first time at Expo East, New Hope color-coded the carpetin various pavilions, including a new Natural Living category. Traffic wasparticularly strong in the Organic Pavilion, as retailers and manufacturersprepared for the implementation of the National Organic Program on Oct. 21. Theevent also included an educational conference with approximately 45 seminars andworkshops.

Next year's Expo East is set for Sept. 4 to 7 to be held in thenew Washington Convention Center. Information on this year's show and details onthe 2003 event are available on the New Hope Web site (www.expoeast.com).